Retort for wood distillation.



No. 705,906. Patented .luly 29,1902.

W. B. CHAPMAN.

RETDRT *FOR V1000 DISZTILLATION.

(Application led Marl 17, 190

(No Model.) 3 sheets-sheet l.

ulm-1 V hun l 'A TTOH/VEYS Patented my 29, |902..

- W. B. CHAPMAN.

RETORT FOB WOOD DISTILLATION.

(Application filed Mar. 17, 1902.) (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W/ TNE SSE S /N VEN T05 BY M ATTORNEYS Patented .Iuly 29, |902. AN.

W. B C

HAPM

BETOR'I FDR WDOD DISTILLATION. (Application led Mar. 17, 1902.-)

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

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umk/ JmL Q y Wl TNE SSE S A TTOHNEYS Aro ` UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

vWILLIAM BREWSTER CHAPMAN, OF BOYNE CITY, MICHIGAN.

RETORT FOR WOOD DISTILLATION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 705,906, dated July 29, 1902.

. Application led March 17, v1902. Serial No. 98,569. (No model.)

To all whoml it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM BREWSTER CHAPMAN, of Boyne City, in the county of Charlevoix and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Retorts for Wood Distillation, of which the following isa specification.

Myinvention is in the nature of a new construction of retort and setting for the same, for use more particularly in Wood distillation for the production of ,wood-alcohol, charcoal, and otherl by-products, Vbut Which retort is applicable to and` designed for other uses for which its peculiar construction may render it especially suited.

In the art of Wood distillation the best means employed consists or" a large and long iron retort Weighing yas much as fty thousand' pounds each, in which upon suitable railsiron trucks or buggies 'with wood-racks are'rolled through an end door, the woodracks being piled with cordwood. These buggies,'withltheir loads of oord-wood, are theninclosed within the retort by means of air-tight doors, and the heat of a subjacent furnace is applied to distil'from the wood the alcohol 'and 4various commercial products, which are taken off to condensers and afterward separated and purified. In this operationthe bottoms and walls of the retort reach a very highheat, becoming red-hot in parts, and this high temperature produces in the great length 'of the retortsuch variations in length as to involve destructive strains on the incasing masonry andthe warping of the retort. To provide for this,it has been necessary to'organize these 'massive retorts so as to accommodate this endwise movement and to separate them entirely from the incasing walls of masonry. The retorts in accommodating the motionof expansion have to be placed upon sets of supporting-rollers to permit the endwise .motion of expansion and contraction; but when the bottoms of the retort become hot and soft the rollers are bulged into the softened bottom, thus distortingthem and also defeating the free endwise motion. My invention is designed to obviate these difficulties and to avoid at the same time the expensive and cumbersome construction referred to by organizing a retort which as a whole is built as'a fixture, but

which takes up locally along its length thc variations from expansion and contraction without detriment 'to its setting or harmful distortion of the retort.

To these ends it consists of a retort `made of corrugated sheets of relatively thin metal anchored Vat suitable Vpoints along its length, which sheets, by departing from straight lines and ,buckling or curving sidewise, more or less, from expansion and contraction, take up locally all destructive strains.

Figure l is a vertical longitudinal section through one-half:` of my retort and setting, the other end being constructed in the same manner as that shown in section on the left. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken through line 2 2 of Fig.-1.' Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section taken on line 3 3of Fig. l. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section through lined 4 of Figs. l and 3. Fig.A 5 is an enlarged sectional detail of one-ofthe side walls; and Fig. 6 is a view in perspective of a portion of the corrugated sides,i bottom, and top of the retort as connected together.

The leading featureof my invention, which is the retort proper, is best shown in Figs. 5 and 6, in whichAA represent side plates, B bottom plates, and B top plates. These are each made of sheet-iron about one-eighth of an inch thick and are riveted together along their meeting edges. l Each plate is bent transversely, so as to form corrugated walls for the retort, and these corrugations may be in the nature of curved surfaces or angular surfaces, as maybe desired. At the upper and lower corners the side plates are riveted to continuous angle-irons C, which are bent in the direction of their length to conform to the intersecting lines of the curves of the side plates with the curves of the top and bottom plates, the angle-irons having one fiange riveted to the side plates and the other flange to the bottom or top plates and. all the joints being tightly hammered, so as to be air-tight and able to stand an internal pressure of several pounds without leaking. Ateach vertical line of joints @the side plates A are X- edly anchored to the side Walls D of inclosing masonry, as seen in Figs. 2, 3, and 5. There Fare at each side joint a for a retort eight feet high about two of these anchorages, as seen in Fig. 3, and each consists (see ICO Figs. 3 and 5) of an angle-iron b, one iiange of which is caught and held by the rivets of joint a and the other flange of which has a hole through it, into which is entered one end of the hook -bolt b', which latter extends through the mason ry wall D and is tightened up and iixedly held by a broad-faced washer and a retaining screw-nut b2. The top 'and bottom plates may be anchored in a similar' way, as is shown in Fig. 1, but generally the side anchorages alone will be sufiicient. As `will be seen from Figs. 2 and 5, the distance between the anchorage-points Z2 is fixed and invariable, and the retort has no endwise movement. The plates A, B, and B', however, when expanded byheat, have by virtue of their departure from straight -flat planes'a lateral projection or bulging action, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. and this causes eachA section to localize and take up its own expansion by a resultant buckling action, instead of having a progressive endwise movenient, which accumulates or increases in extent according to the length of the retort and has to be specially provided for at great expense. Along the sides and bottom of the retort the convex sides of the plates are arranged to face inwardly, while at the top the concave sides of the plate face inwardly. The purpose of this is to cause the buckling up of the floor-plate to be in the same direction of movement with the buckling up of the roof-plates, so as to avoid pinching strains on the side plates between the said roof and bottom plates. Within the retort 'as thus constructed the buggies E', with racks E for holding the wood, are run through doors G G', capable of being tightly closed, from suitable external tracks. (Not shown.) The wheels of the buggies are sustained upon rails e e in the retort, which latter in turn 'are supported upon metal blocks or chairs e', located at the transverse joints of the bottom plates, so as to rest solidly upon the masonry-roof F of the subjacentfurnace. This avoids any weight coming upon the Hoor-plates and allows them perfect freedom of action to buckle up from the expansive strain in accordance with my invention.

With the interior of the` retort there communicates anl exit-pipe G, which takes the vapors of distillation arising from the wood to suitable condensers, where they are liquefied and afterward separated and purified.

The furnace by which the retort is heated is of the type known as the Dutch oven, which is shown at I in Figs. l and 2 and which projects beyond the ends of the retort at a lower level and has a hole d in its top, through which sawdust, shavings, or other similar fuel `is fed. This furnace has a grate c and acombustion-charnberf, which communicates wi th a central longitudinal flue K. (See Figs. 3 and 4.) This flue runs one-half the length of the retort to a transverse partition M. It then turns on each side into parallel longitudinal iiues L, around the longitudinal partitions .l J, and then passes through various openings h in the outside walls D D' (see Fig. 4) into vertical'liues h, Fig. 3, in said walls and thence enters the spaces between the corrugated plates A and the outer walls D of the furnace, and thence passing over the corrugated plates at the top of the retort reaches the smoke-stack H, Fig. 1. This gives a circuitous path for the smokeand hot products ot' combustion, which secures the greatest utilization of heat. It will be seen from Figs. l and 4 that the openings h from the side fines L constantly increase in size from the back ends of partitions J toward the front. This compels a nearly uniform distribution of currents through the hollow spaces behind the corrugated plates that makes the heating of the retort uniform along its length.

The corrugated plates of the top part of the retort have a little free space between them and the masonry top F of the furnace,so that the currents can pass from the middle of the retort over the top of the same to the ends in reaching the smoke-stack. This arrangement of' setting causes the plates to form the smoke-filles and enables me to quickly transmit the heat through the thin plates for its best effect in acting upon the wooo. to distil the same.

In dening myinvention with greater clearness I would state that I am aware that it is not broadly new to form cast radiating-surfaces with corrugations and that steam-boilers have been made with corrugations, and I lay no claim to such construction. My corrugated retort is made inseparate vertical and horizontal sections united by continuous angle-bars at the corners, andthe joints of said sections are ixedly anchored to the masonry walls.

With respect to the furnaces at the ends of the retort I would state that for retorts of fifty feet or more in length I use a furnace at each end, with a dividing-wall M at the middie; but for retorts under fifty feet in length a single furnace with ilues running the full length of the retort will be used.

I'Iaving thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is 1 1. A retort made of a series of separate plates said plates being bent or corrugated in direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of the retort substantially as described.

2. A retort consisting of a transverselycor rugated shell having its top and bottom and side walls made in separate plates, and continuous angle-bars arranged longitudinally to the retort along the corners for uniting said plates substantially as described.

3. A retort having corrugated sides combined in fixed relation with an outer casing of masonry and forming between said masonry casing and the corrugated plates closed iiues for the passage of smoke and the products of combustion,each corrugation having its edges joined to the masonry walls to completely IOO IIO

shut o the connection between the flue which it helps to form and the flues adjoining, whereby each ne is made capable of being opened or closed independently of the iue adjoining, substantially as described.

4. A retort made of sheet-metal plates corrugated transversely to the longitudinal axis of the retort, combined with an inclosing casing and anchors connecting the'joints be' tween the plates xedly to the inclosing cas- 4 ing substantially as described.-

5.I A retort constructed as a sheet-metal shell corrugated transversely, rails laid longitudinally on the bottom of the retort, andy supporting blocks or chairs for the rails be- .tween the corrugations-of the bottom of the lues into the space between the `retort and casing, said passage-ways increasing in size toward the more remote point of travel substantially as described.

7. The combination with a retort corrugated on all four sides transversely, aninclosing casing of masonry leaving a free space all around the corrugated retort, and a subjacent furnace with iues communicating with the free space substantially as described.

8. In a retort of the kind described, the combination with an exterior wall; of an inner lsheet-metal shell composed of separate plates corrugated transversely to the retort 'and riveted together in transverse seams, an angle-iron outside the shell having one ange retained by the rivets, a tie-bolt secured to the other flange of the angle-iron and extended to the exterior of the incasing Wall, and a washer or clamp-plate secured to the outer end of the tie-bolt substantially as'described.

WILLIAM BREWSTER CHAPMAN.

Witnesses:

EDW. W. BYRN, SoLoN C. KEMON. 

